The Dam Busters (1955)

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

Paul Brickhill (book)
Guy Gibson (book)

Release Date:

4 October 1955 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

The dramatic true-life story of the men who broke the Nazis' back!

Plot:

True story of how the British attacked German dams in WW2 by using an ingenious technique to drop bombs where they would be most effective.

Plot Keywords:

Crew | Idiosyncratic Character | Bureaucracy | Airfield | Elite Team

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Michael Redgrave	...	Doctor B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S.
Ursula Jeans	...	Mrs. Wallis
Charles Carson	...	Doctor
Stanley Van Beers	...	Sir David Pye, C.B., F.R.S.
Colin Tapley	...	Doctor W.H. Glanville, C.B., C.B.E.
Frederick Leister	...	Committee Member
Eric Messiter	...	Committee Member
Laidman Browne	...	Committee Member
Raymond Huntley	...	Official, National Physical Laboratory
Hugh Manning	...	Official, Ministry of Aircraft Production
Patrick Barr	...	Captain Joseph 'Mutt' Summers, C.B.E.
Edwin Styles	...	Observer at trials
Hugh Moxey	...	Observer at trials
Anthony Shaw	...	R.A.F. Officer at trials
Basil Sydney	...	Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C.

Also Known As:

The Dambusters (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

124 min | USA:105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) | Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17528) | Australia:G (DVD rating) | Iceland:L | Norway:12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)

Trivia:

The RAF supplied most of the aircraft, at a cost of 130 pounds per hour. This expense consumed 10% of the film's budget.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The Castle above the Eder-Dam is shown on the southern-side of the lake. In reality, this castle is on the northern side.

Quotes:

Capt. Joseph Summers, CBE: How'd you get on?
Barnes Wallace: It's hopeless.
Capt. Joseph Summers, CBE: What happened?
Barnes Wallace: Nothing. I walked up and down Whitehall. In and out of offices. Up and down stairs. Sat outside rooms. I felt like a peddlar trying to sell clockwork toys.
Capt. Joseph Summers, CBE: I wish there was something I could do.
Barnes Wallace: There is, Mutt.
Capt. Joseph Summers, CBE: What?
Barnes Wallace: Let's take the whole thing straight to Bomber Command.
Capt. Joseph Summers, CBE: Harris?
Barnes Wallace: Yes! You're one of the few men that really know him. If he sees the films and gets interested... Well, it'll only need one word from him.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hitler: The Comedy Years (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Dam Busters

Steady, Steady....... Bomb Gone!

I personally went to school in the town where the Raids were monitored from (Grantham) by Wallis and Harris. There is hardly any memorabilia recording this local fact, and no-one would ever know. I know of RAF Scampton too, which I believe has closed down some years ago. For Lincolnshire, the Dams Raid is remembered poignantly, as the 617 Squadron, who now fly Tornados

in Scotland, was formed and trained there. They practised on the Derwent Reservoir near Sheffield, and the Eyebrook Reservoir in Leicestershire.

Sir Barnes Wallis thought in innovative ways, and the fact that this 'far out' idea of bouncing bombs on a lake, actually breached two dams is an engineering marvel. To do so under heavy flak is beating the odds. Wallis and 617 Squadron collaborated again with the Tallboy and Grand Slam 'earthquake' bombs, which destroyed many important railway viaducts and tunnels, as well as sinking the Tirpitz.

Richard Todd, after the film, moved 3 miles from Grantham. Maybe the film was the reason for this.

The film is one of few about RAF Bomber Command, and is a good portrayal of the danger involved. 41% of crew were killed (55,000). After early 1944, the loss rate rapidly decreased, as the Luftwaffe had been destroyed, so from 1940-3 I would guess 60-70% of crew were killed, for the whole campaign. It may be higher. The RAF didn't even know the Germans had excellent radar until early 1942. The film is about team work and working under stress - your immediate future depended on 6 other people. Many things could go wrong along the way. It is also about strong resilience to new ideas. i.e. The RAF could have had jet planes before 1939 if they'd have developed Whittle's ideas in the 1930s, instead of foolishly waiting 10 whole years until 1941. Whittle was then humiliated after the war by forcing him to give all his designs to the Americans, who didn't waste any time in treating the idea as their own.

When I first saw the film, I thought the special effects were weak and I was astonished a bomb bounced in the first place. When older and seeing it again, you can empathise more with the RAF crews and the skill and daring they would need. It focuses on one story line, and does not have American accents mysteriously appearing from nowhere. I think at the time Guy Gibson was about 25. Imagine yourself having that responsibility at 25.

Many of the 'Upkeep' mines that were bounced, completely missed the targets. Certainly for the Eder dam, there was just one mine left, and was dropped in the right place and destroyed the dam in 'one go'. The film gives the impression many were exploded to breach the dam, but actually a single one did the 'job'.

The Germans are never shown, and I would love to have known what they thought seeing this strange sight of bombs skimming the water's surface. I think Spielberg would have enjoyed making this film, but half of it would have been about the Germans. If the dams had been breached six months earlier, when a water pumping system had not been installed, the Germans would have been seriously up the creek with no paddles. The Ruhr Industry would have been unable to function at all. Do not underestimate what hypothetical difference the dams breach could have made to the Germans in their biggest industrial area.

Do women enjoy the film too, or is all the technical wizardry just for the male audience?

Why did Pink Floyd use it in their film 'The Wall'? Carling Black Label used the lake scenes many times in notorious adverts.